Talks Fail Over Suit On Placing Of Teachers

By LYNETTE HOLLOWAY

Published: August 24, 2000

State and city lawyers were trying yesterday to negotiate a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the State Education Department to block the city's Board of Education from assigning uncertified teachers to some of the worst-performing schools. But those talks were unsuccessful.

Oral arguments had been scheduled to begin yesterday in the case before Justice Joseph F. Bruno in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, but about a dozen lawyers and union leaders, including the city's labor commissioner, James F. Hanley, spent about two and half hours trying to reach a settlement.

After negotiating late into the evening on Tuesday, the parties entered the judge's chambers at 2:30 p.m. yesterday, hopeful that they would reach an agreement. But they emerged grim-faced and tight-lipped at 5 p.m., saying only that they were ''making progress.'' The case is scheduled to resume at noon today.

Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, would only say that the negotiations were tough. She said all parties agreed not to reveal the finer points of the talks until an agreement was reached. She also said that that the schools chancellor, Harold O. Levy, who is on vacation, was called several times during the negotiations.

''I don't know if you can take it as a good sign or a bad sign,'' Ms. Weingarten said. ''It's taking a long time. People are trying to hammer things out and get these schools staffed for students in September.''

Officials said logistics and the dearth of certified teachers in the city and the nation had complicated the talks.

Richard P. Mills, the state education commissioner, filed the suit against Mr. Levy in an effort to force him to replace about 335 unlicensed teachers in 99 failing schools, asserting that the biggest problem at the schools was the disproportionately large number of uncertified teachers. Mr. Levy has contended that he cannot replace those teachers because not enough certified teachers have been recruited.